Method and apparatus for inserting flat partition elements between flanked articles

ABSTRACT

Partition elements are inserted between articles of a group to be packaged and can extend in the longitudinal and/or transverse direction, by inserting the partitions from the bottom upwardly between longitudinal or transverse ranks of the articles by progressively spacing the ranks apart and bringing them together as the articles are transported along a transport path.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a national phase of PCT/IB95/00365 filed 16 May 1995and based, in turn on Italian national application BO94 A 000216 of 16May 1994 under the International Convention.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus forautomatically fitting longitudinal and/or transverse flat partitionelements between arrays of articles that are continuously advanced,particularly in a packaging line of articles such as cans or bottles.

BACKGROUND ART

In the packaging field and, in particular, for the packaging ofbreakable articles, such as glass bottles, it is often required toinsert longitudinal and/or transverse flat partition elements betweenthe articles of a package to establish a plurality of cells each ofwhich can contain a single article, so as to avoid contact and collisionbetween the articles, keeping them safe, for instance, during thetransport of the package.

Presently, several methods and apparatuses are know for the automaticinsertion of said partition elements.

For example, the patent IT-927.943 discloses that the longitudinaland/or transverse flat partition elements can be introducedconsecutively between the articles of a predefined group, and that theso obtained assembly of articles and partition elements can besubsequently packaged and bound in cardboard.

To make the insertion of the longitudinal and transverse partitionelements easier, the articles of the group to be packed are placed inlongitudinal and transverse ranks, the longitudinal ranks aretemporarily spaced apart transversely and the transverse ranks aretemporarily spaced apart longitudinally, so that the partition elementscan slide from above downwards, preferably by gravity, between thespaced apart ranks.

The apparatus provided to implement the above mentioned method isessentially comprised of: a conveyor provided with thrust bars thatextends from upstream to downstream of the apparatus, to make theseparate groups of articles and to convey the groups downstream; aplurality of devices designed to insert the partitions, placed over thearticle conveyor and in sequence along the article conveying path, toallow the free fall or to throw downwards the partition elements;channel devices, to obtain the transverse displacement of thelongitudinal ranks of the articles; and a further belt conveyor that iscoplanar with the transport plane of the articles, which is designed toact in the operative area of the first conveyor and to successivelyspeed up the transverse ranks of the articles so as to get a temporaryspacing between the transverse ranks.

The apparatus of patent IT-1.154.364, essentially is comprised of: amultiple belt conveyor to transport the articles ordered in transverseand longitudinal ranks from upstream to downstream; an automatic fixeddispenser, placed upon the flow of the containers that advancelongitudinally and designed for throwing transverse partition elementsfrom above downwards; and a spacing device to temporarily spacelongitudinally the transversal ranks of the articles.

The spacing device essentially includes a plurality of transverse pegsmoved along a closed ring path in a vertical orbit by a chain conveyor,in which the upper branch of the orbit includes the transport of thepegs between the containers according to the same longitudinal speed ofthese latter.

In the operation of this device, first the pegs insert between thecontainers from the bottom upwards and then, during the phase of drivingback downwards the chains, they determine the spacing of the containertransverse ranks. This is due to the fact that the upper ends of thesame pegs, during this phase, define a greater path with respect to theone made by their base, that lies about on the same plane with thearticle bottoms.

A first drawback is that the longitudinal and transversal elements areinserted from above downward, by moving them down along vertical planesthat are perpendicular to the flow of the articles, so as to require aperfect phase relationship between the lowering partition and theadvancing articles, and needing a much reduced advancing speed of thearticles to have sufficient time to perform the insertion, leading to alower productivity.

A further drawback, related to the first, is misplacement of thepartitions and apparatus jams due to the fact that, to increase theproductivity of the apparatus, the partitions are thrown downwardly at ahigh speed so that they bounce on the transport plane of the articles.

The last drawback lies in the fact that the different stores of thepartitions are positioned at a height hardly reachable by the operator,so as these apparatuses must have a supplementary frame that allows theoperator to reach those stores. This creates a high risk of possibleaccidents.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,117 discloses a packaging machine for insertinglongitudinal partition elements from beneath groups of articles, andlongitudinal partition elements from above the articles, which issimilar to the one described in Italian Patent No. IT 1,154,364.

From AU-439,944 there is known a method for inserting transverse andlongitudinal partition elements, respectively between rows and columnsof a batch of closely spaced jars or the like, at two or more operatingstations which are subsequently placed on a conveyor platform.

The transverse elements are inserted at a first inserting station, frombeneath the platform, through transverse slots suitably made in theplatform and after the rows of jars have been accurately placed betweenthe slots.

Jars are then moved to a second station for inserting of longitudinalelements, which are also inserted from beneath the platform, throughcorresponding longitudinal slots, after the columns of jars have beenaccurately placed between the slots.

The apparatus carrying out the aforesaid method, although allowing thepartition elements to be inserted from beneath the operating platformupwards, has a first serious drawback because it operatesintermittently. The partition elements are inserted between rows andcolumns of each batch of jars only after they have been placed on thecorresponding inserting station, and after they have stopped moving.Moreover, each batch must complete the inserting of both the transverseand longitudinal partition elements, before subsequent batch of jars canbe moved ot the first inserting station. Thus, the apparatus operatingspeed and productivity are greatly reduced.

Furthermore, positioning of jars on the stations for inserting ofpartition elements is extremely critical, because the rows and/orcolumns of jars must be accurately placed between the slots, in order toallow the partition elements to be inserted between the rows and/orcolumns. This requires the apparatus to be modified when jars havingeven a slight different size have to be processed.

A further drawback of the aforesaid apparatus is that a possible damagecan occur to the jar labels while inserting the partition elements,because the jars are close together during this operation.

Another drawback arises because it is necessary to provide as manytransverse slots as transverse partition elements to be inserted foreach batch of jars. For each partition element, a separate magazine isalso required. This entails additional work by the operator which has toload the apparatus magazines.

Finally, the maximum numbers of rows allowable for each batch of jars islimited by the number of transverse slots in the first operatingstation.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The main object of the present invention is therefore to avoid thedrawbacks reported above.

The invention includes a method for inserting partition elements betweentransverse ranks and longitudinal ranks of groups of articlestransported along a path, wherein the articles are continuously movedalong the transverse ranks and longitudinal ranks are spaced apartduring the insertion, and at least one of the partition elements isinserted from the bottom upwards between the transverse ranks andbetween the longitudinal ranks. After insertion of the partitions theranks are compacted.

The transverse partition elements can be inserted between thetransversal ranks of articles by moving them from the bottom upwards andupstream to downstream with a longitudinal feeding which is concordantto the longitudinal feeding of the transverse ranks.

The longitudinal partition elements can be inserted between thelongitudinal ranks by moving the longitudinal partition elements, heldin a vertical position, from the bottom upwards and upstream todownstream, with a longitudinal feeding which is concordant to thelongitudinal feed of the longitudinal ranks of articles.

The longitudinal feeding speed of the longitudinal partition elementsduring the phase of insertion between the longitudinal ranks of articlescan be substantially equal to the feeding speed of the ranks of articlesmoving along the operating path.

An apparatus for inserting partition elements between transverse ranksand longitudinal ranks of groups of articles moved along a path, whereinthe transverse ranks and longitudinal ranks are spaced to allow theinsertion, can comprise:

at least a device for inserting of transverse partition elements,located in a position underlying the article transport plane, while thearticles are continuously moved on the operating path, and at least anopening, located along the operating path, which is able to allow thepartition elements to pass a zone underlying the path to a zoneoverhanging the path, wherein the partition elements are moved from thebottom upwards through the opening between the transverse ranks ofarticles;

and at least a device for inserting of longitudinal partition elements,located in a position underlying the article transport plane, while thearticles are continuously moved on the operating path, and at least anopening, located along the operating path, which is able to allow thepartition elements to pass from a zone underlying the path to a zoneoverhanging the path, wherein the partition elements are moved from thebottom upwards through the opening between the longitudinal ranks.

The devices for insertion of transverse partition elements can comprise:

at least a store, longitudinally extending, to store the transversalpartition elements;

at least an extracting-transferring device, able to extract and totransfer the transversal partition elements in succession from thestore;

a conveyor able to transport the transversal partition elements carriedby the collecting-transferring device upwards between the articles bypassing them through the insertion opening.

The conveyor can comprise a pair of belts or chains provided with slugswrapping around a closed path in respective parallel planes onrespective wheels, wherein the upper wheels are positioned betweenrollers of a drive-back roller group of a conveyor.

The apparatus can have at least an opening for inserting thelongitudinal partition elements, the opening being obtained by means ofa sliding surface formed with transversely spaced shims, which areprovided with guides.

The following results are obtained by the use of a method and of anapparatus of this type:

the partition elements are more easily inserted;

the rebound of these elements on the transport plane of the articles isavoided;

the stores for the partition elements are easily reached by theoperator.

The advantages obtained with the present invention, essentially, arethat it is possible to move the articles more quickly than improving theproductivity of the apparatus, that it is possible to avoid the problemsdue to the rebound of the partition elements and to have nosupplementary frame to allow the operator access to the stores of thepartition elements, thereby reducing the risks of possible accidentsbecause of the easy access to the frame.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will bebetter pointed out in the following detailed description of thepreferred embodiment, with reference to the accompanying drawing, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the apparatus of the present invention;

FIG. 1A is a schematic side view of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 2 and 2A are respectively a schematic side view and a schematictop view, along the line II--II of FIG. 1A;

FIG. 2B is an enlarged perspective view of a portion of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of the region along the line III--III ofFIG. 1A;

FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C are three schematic cop views respectively at theregions of the lines A, B and C of FIG. 3;

FIG. 3D is a schematic sectional view along the line D--D of FIG. 3;

FIGS. 4, 4A and 4B are schematic top views in the region along the lineIV--IV of FIG. 1A of three successive sequences; and

FIG. 5 is a sectional view along the line V--V of FIG. 1A.

BEST MODE OF CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

The drawing shows an apparatus designed to package groups of articles100, 200, 300, 400, 500 and 600 comprising three transverse ranks andfour longitudinal ranks of articles 3. It is clear that the method andthe apparatus here disclosed could be used also with different groupssizes. The longitudinal ranks extend in the direction of advance of thegroups of articles along the path and the transverse ranks areperpendicular to this direction.

With reference to the FIGS. 1 and 1A the apparatus 1 of the presentinvention has an upstream end 2 linked with a feeding machine, notshown, that feeds a continuous flow of the articles 3 to be packed, thatcan be bottles.

The horizontal transport plane of the articles 3, from upstream todownstream, is in succession constituted by: a first sliding surface 2aprovided with a plurality of known channel guides 4; a first conveyer 5provided with multiple endless belts 5a; a second sliding plane 6; aconveyer 7 with multiple endless belts 7a; a third sliding plane 8comprising, see FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C, a plurality of longitudinallyextending shims 8a and provided with guides 8c, and that are mutuallytransversely spaced to determine the openings 8b extendinglongitudinally; and, at least, a sliding continuous plane 51 havingconvergent guides 51a, see the FIG. 3C.

The upper portion of the apparatus 1, as regards the article transportplane, comprises a pair of side vertical shoulders 9, 9a, extendinglongitudinally, that support an endless conveyor 11, which includes apair of chains 50, 50a, each of which are wrapped on respective chainwheels and supports one end of respective plurality of transversalthrust bars 11a, so defining a closed annular path, the lower branch ofwhich provides the transport of the articles 3 from upstream todownstream of the apparatus 1.

An endless conveyor 12 is placed inside the conveyor 11, is similar tothis latter and includes a pair of chains 10, 10a, each of which arespooled on respective chain wheels and support one end of respectiveplurality of transverse thrust bars 12a that, along the lower branch oftheir closed ring path, operate within the operation of the branch ofthe lower operative path of the bars 11a, as described and shown inanother Italian Patent Application No. BO94A 000215 filed in the name ofthis applicant on the same date and corresponding to U.S. applicationSer. No. 08/581,564 of 16 Jan. 1996 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,667,055.

The lower portion of the apparatus 1, from upstream to downstream, insequence includes: a first closed path conveyor 60 which supportstransversal ranks of slugs 60a, designed to insert between the belts 5aof the conveyor 5; the store 13 of a large amount of transversepartition elements 14; extracting-transferring means 15 fit to extractand transport in a single succession partition elements 14 from thestore 13; and a close ring conveyor 16 fit to convey in succession oneafter the other transversal partition elements 14 handled by theextracting-transferring means 15.

Particularly, see FIG. 2b too, the conveyor 16 includes a pair of beltsor chains 17, 17a wrapped on respective wheels 18-19, 18a-19a, and whichsupport a plurality of pairs of slugs 20, 20a, the upper wheels 19, 19abeing located between rolls 17b, 7b belonging to the transmission rollupstream of the conveyor 7.

The conveyor 16 is vertically sloping to define an operative pathdesigned to convey in sloping way from the bottom upwards and upstreamto downstream, the partitions 14 upright in series, through an opening21 between the sliding surface 6 and the conveyor 7. Moreover, a switchelement 6a (see FIG. 1A), fit to switch inside the opening 21 partitionelements eventually not well transported, is provided to avoid wronginsertions of the partition 14 through the opening 21.

With reference also to the FIGS. 4, 4A, 4B, and 5, in the lower portionof the apparatus 1, and downstream with respect of the above mentionedconveyor 16, three stores 22, 23, 24 of known type, are fit to storerelated longitudinal partition elements 25, 26, 27 and threeextracting-transfer-ring devices 28, 29, 30 are fit to take and totransport respective longitudinal partitions 25, 26, 27, respectivelycomprising one or more swinging arms 28a, 29a, 30a, supportingrespective suction means 28b, 29b, 30b.

Below the extracting-transferring devices 28, 29, 30, there are threerespective guides 31, 32, 33 longitudinally extending, from upstream todownstream, from the bottom upwards, from a zone close to theextracting-transferring devices 28, 29, 30 till next to a zonedownstream of the plane 8 and directly below this latter, see also FIGS.1 and 1A.

With reference to FIG. 5, the guides 31, 32, 33 have a first portionwith transverse section like an inverted "L" designed to supportrelative longitudinal partition elements 25, 26, 27 which are moved bythe relative extracting-transferring devices 28, 29, 30. The secondmiddle portion of the guides has a transverse section "U" shapeddesigned to support the same partition elements 25, 26 and 27 invertical-longitudinal position.

With reference to FIGS. 1A and 3D, the third end portion of the guides31, 32, 33 has a rectangular transverse section and it is fit to supportthe bottom of the partitions 25, 26, 27 and to cooperate with aguide-group 61 that has a series of longitudinal guides 61a, protrudingfrom the lower plane of the sliding surface 8 downwards. The lower rimof the guide-group 61 is vertically spaced from the upper surface of therectangular section in order to allow the passage of thrust bars 34a,better described later, without any interference.

An endless conveyor 34 includes a pair of chains 35, 35a, wrapped ontorelative chain wheels 36, 37, 38, 39, 36a, 37a, 38a, 39a (not all ofthem are shown in the Figures), and the chains support a plurality ofthrust bars 34a that move along a closed path, the upper branch of whichis parallel to the upper level of the guides 31, 32, 33.

It must be noted that the operative path of the bars 34a is located incorrespondence of a level slightly above the guides 31, 32, 33, but soas to not interfere with the operation of the suction means 28b, 29b,30b, as shown in FIG. 5. With reference to the third end portion of theguides 31, 32, 22, the above mentioned operative path does not interferewith the lower end of the guide-group 61.

The apparatus 1 is also equipped with known mechanical and/or electricaland/or electronic and/or computerized devices fit to synchronize theapparatus.

The operation of the apparatus 1 includes the incoming of a continuousflow of articles 3 from a feeding machine linked with the upstream end 2of the apparatus 1.

The continuous flow of articles 3 in the longitudinal path moves ontothe sliding surface 2a so that the articles 3 are pushed inside thelongitudinal channels defined by the guides 4 obtaining theirlongitudinal alignment (see FIGS. 2 and 2A).

Downstream of the sliding surface 2, the articles 3 are transported bythe conveyor 5 downstream and towards the longitudinal ranks of pegs 60aprotruding from the bottom between the belts 5a in order to transverselyalign the article 3 to define transverse ranks 3a.

The transverse ranks of pegs 60a insert between the transversal ranks 3aof articles 3, and because of the longitudinal speed of the transverseranks of pegs 60a is lower than the speed of the conveyor 5, see FIGS.1A, 2, 2A, the pegs 60a touch the frontal portion of the articles 3,giving these latter a translation speed downstream equal to the speed ofthe pegs 60a, that is lower than the speed of the conveyor 5.

The transverse ranks are moved onto the conveyor 5 and when atransversal rank of pegs 60a is diverted downwards next the downstreamend of the conveyor 60, the transversal rank 3a, which was blocked bythe rank of pegs 60a, is free to move with the greater longitudinalspeed of the conveyor 5. Since the subsequent transversal rank ofarticles 3 is still blocked by its pegs 60a, a first longitudinalspacing between the downstream transverse rank of articles 3 and thenext upstream transverse rank 3a of articles 3 that is till blocked bythe subsequent rank of pegs 60a.

The transverse ranks 3a of the articles 3 are spaced and are conveyeddownstream by means of the conveyor 5. The thrust bars 11a and 12a lowerfrom above downwards, insert between the transversal ranks 3a, andadvance the transverse ranks 3a and set them in a correct phaserelationship for the subsequent operations, as shown in FIG. 2A with thenumeral references 3aa, 3ab, 3ac, 3ad, 3ae and so one. If necessary, thethrust bars 11a and 12a increase the longitudinal spacing therebetween.

It should be noted that, for reasons better clear in the followingdescription, the group of article 100 has the two transversal frontranks 3aa, 3ab, pushed by two bars 12a of the conveyor 12, while thetransversal rear rank 3ac is pushed by a bar 11a of the conveyor 11.

The article transversal ranks 3a are so moved upon the sliding surface 6and, in phase relationship with the advancement thereof, a partitionelement 14 is inserted between the two front transversal ranks 3aa and3ab of the group 100 of article 3. This partition element passes, fromthe bottom upwards, through the opening 21 between the sliding surface 6and the conveyor 7.

The partition element 14 is inserted along a sloping plane having adirection from the bottom upwards and upstream to downstream, by meansof the conveyor 16, which, with the slugs 20, 20a, takes and transfersthe elements 14, extracted from the store 13 and transferred by theextracting-transfer-ring device 15.

In this manner a first partition element 14 will be inserted between thefirst and second transverse rank, respectively 3aa and 3ab and,subsequently, a second partition element 14 will be so inserted betweenthe second and third transverse ranks 3ab, 3ac. In this specificembodiment, no partition elements will be inserted between the rank 3acand the rank 3ad, thus obtaining a group 200 of articles 3 provided withtwo transverse partition elements 14.

With reference to FIGS. 2 and 2A, each transverse rank 3aa, 3ab, 3ac ispushed by respective thrust bars 12a, 12a, 11a, downstream onto theconveyor 7; subsequently bars 12a, 12a pass upwards so that only the bar11a longitudinally pushes the group 200.

The speed of the conveyor 7 is less than that of the bars 11a, so duringthe transport of the group of articles on the conveyor 7 a longitudinalcompaction between the transverse ranks 3a of articles, which werepreviously spaced, is obtained.

Referring to FIGS. 3, 3A, 3B and 3C, groups 200, 300 of articles 3 arerouted by bars 12a and by conveyor 7 on the sliding surface 8 andagainst the diverging heads of guides 8c (see FIG. 3A), thus separatingthe group 400 to longitudinal ranks 3b, between which the openings 8bextend.

Referring now to FIG. 5, the extracting-transferring devices 28, 29, 30withdraw respective partition elements 25, 26, 27, bringing them to therespective guides 31, 32, 33, which have an inverted "L" shape, for afurther transport.

Referring to FIGS. 4, 4A, 4B and 5, the thrust bars 34a of conveyor 34,driven in a phase relationship with the operating cycle of the apparatus1, during their upper active path, engage the rear edge of thelongitudinal partition element 25 first, then, in a succession, the rearedges of the longitudinal partition elements 26 and 27 (FIGS. 4A and 4B)to push three partition elements 25, 26, 27 transversely aligned withinrespective longitudinal guides 31, 32, 33. Those, as mentioned above,have a transversal shape of a "U" for an intermediate stretch of theirlongitudinal extension, while their final downstream stretch forms arectangle-shaped guide (FIG. 3D) exclusively able to hold the partitionelements and a plurality of vertical guides 61a, which extendlongitudinally and downwards the sliding surface 8; the vertical guides61a are designed to hold in a vertical and longitudinal position thepartition elements.

The partition elements are so routed from the bottom upwards andupstream to downstream under the sliding surface 8, having alongitudinal and vertical position and transversely centered withrespect to the openings 8b located between the shims 8a. Afterwards,near the downstream end of the sliding surface 8, they are insertedbetween the longitudinal ranks 3b of articles 3, passing through theopenings 8b.

After the insertion, just after the downstream end of the conveyor 34,the group 500, provided with transverse partition elements 14, 14 andwith longitudinal partition elements 25, 26, 27, is transferred from thesliding surface 8 to the sliding surface 51 which transverselyaccumulates the group 500, as shown at 600. The group 600 then continuesits transferring to further packaging operation.

I claim:
 1. A method of inserting partitions between articles duringcontinuous advance thereof, comprising the steps of:(a) providing atransport path extending in a longitudinal direction; (b) assembling agroup of articles in at least two transverse ranks extendingtransversely to said longitudinal direction; (c) continuously advancingsaid group of articles in said direction downstream along said pathwhile spacing a relatively upstream one of said ranks from a relativelydownstream one of said ranks; (d) while continuing to advance said groupof articles, passing said downstream one of said ranks over a transverseopening; (e) feeding a flat transverse partition element between saidranks by passing an upper edge of said partition element upwardlythrough said opening while continuing to advance said group of articlesand after said downstream one of said ranks has passed over saidtransverse openings, and passing a lower edge of said partition elementupwardly through said opening before said upstream one of said ranksarrives at said opening; and (f) while continuing to advance said groupof articles, closing the spacing between said ranks.
 2. The methoddefined in claim 1 wherein said transverse partition element is fed instep (e) in a plane sloping from its bottom upwardly in an upstream todownstream direction of said path.
 3. An apparatus for insertingpartitions between articles during continuous advance thereof, saidapparatus comprising:means providing a transport path extending in alongitudinal direction; means for assembling a group of articles in atleast two transverse ranks extending transversely to said longitudinaldirection; continuously operating conveying means with thrust bars forcontinuously advancing said group of articles in said directiondownstream along said path while spacing a relatively upstream one ofsaid ranks from a relatively downstream one of said ranks; means alongsaid path forming a transverse opening over which said articles can bemoved by said continuously operating conveying means; and insertingmeans below said path and in phase with said conveying means for feedinga flat transverse partition element between said ranks by passing anupper edge of said partition element upwardly through said opening whilecontinuing to advance said group of articles and after said downstreamone of said ranks has passed over said transverse openings, and passinga lower edge of said partition element upwardly through said openingbefore said upstream one of said ranks arrives at said opening, saidconveying means including means for continuing to advance said group ofarticles while closing the spacing between said ranks.
 4. The apparatusdefined in claim 3 wherein said conveying means includes a downstreamconveyor defining said path downstream of said opening and saidinserting means includes another endless conveyor having wheels locatedat an upstream end of said downstream conveyor and carrying pegs forentraining said partition element through said opening.
 5. The apparatusdefined in claim 4 wherein said other endless conveyor slopes upwardlyfrom upstream to downstream in said direction.
 6. The apparatus definedin claim 3 wherein said conveying means includes a first upstreamconveyor having thrust bars for engaging pluralities of transverse ranksof articles for advancing same along said path, and a second upstreamconveyor having thrust bars for engaging individual transverse ranks ofsaid articles, the thrust bars of said second conveyor withdrawing fromengagement with said ranks for closing of the spacing between ranks. 7.The apparatus defined in claim 3, further comprising a switching elementdisposed adjacent said opening and below said path for guiding saidpartition element into said opening.
 8. A method of inserting partitionsbetween articles during continuous advance thereof, comprising the stepsof:(a) providing a transport path extending in a longitudinal direction;(b) assembling a group of articles in a plurality of longitudinallyextending ranks extending in said direction; (c) continuously advancingsaid group of articles in said direction downstream along said pathwhile transversely spacing said ranks apart so that said ranks flankopposite sides of respective longitudinal openings formed along saidpath; (d) while continuing to advance said group of articles, feeding arespective upright flat longitudinally extending partition elementbetween said ranks by continuously passing said partition elementsupwardly through said openings synchronously with the continuous advanceof the group of articles from below in an upstream to downstreamdirection; and (e) while continuing to advance said group of articles,closing the spacing between said ranks.
 9. An apparatus for insertingpartitions between articles during continuous advance thereof, saidapparatus comprising:means for forming a transport path extending in alongitudinal direction; means at an upstream location along said pathfor assembling a group of articles in a plurality of longitudinallyextending ranks extending in said direction; conveying means forcontinuously advancing said group of articles in said directiondownstream along said path; guide means along said path for transverselyspacing said ranks apart as said group of articles is continuouslyadvanced along said path so that said ranks flank opposite sides ofrespective longitudinal openings formed along said path; and insertingmeans synchronized with said conveying means for feeding a respectiveupright flat longitudinally extending upright partition element betweensaid ranks by continuously passing said partition elements upwardlythrough said openings synchronously with the continuous advance of thegroup of articles from below in an upstream to downstream direction; andmeans downstream of said openings for closing said spacing whilecontinuing to advance said group of articles.
 10. The apparatus definedin claim 9 wherein said guide means include respective sliding channelsfor said ranks with longitudinally extending shims flanking saidopenings.
 11. The apparatus defined in claim 9 wherein said meansdownstream of said openings are convergent guides.
 12. The apparatusdefined in claim 9 wherein said inserting means include:respectiveupwardly inclined guides for said partition elements; means forpositioning a respective one of said partition elements on each of saidguides; and a conveyor having a thrust bar engageable behind thepartition elements positioned on said guides for feeding said partitionelements upwardly through said openings.
 13. The apparatus defined inclaim 12, further comprising further guide elements projectingdownwardly adjacent said openings for guiding upper parts of saidpartition elements into said openings.